1. Traditional news media is evolving as new media is continuing to develop and be such a major part of everyday life. The news companies have realized that an online presence is imperative to be successful. A major platform that news is implementing is Twitter. It makes perfect sense for news because its nature allows for a 140 character description of the story along with a link to bring someone to the entire story. New media has helped news because it allows for the news to be right at our fingertips instead of having to sit down and watch the news on TV or wait for the daily newspaper. New media has benefited advertising tremendously. It is, for the most part, inexpensive and is an awesome way to connect directly with the target market. Advertisers are using all sorts of new media platforms. New media has allowed for some amazing and innovative advertising campaings such as Kraft Mac n Cheese’s “Smile” campaign and Grey Poupon’s “Society of Good Taste” campaign. Kraft untitled social media and implemented a noodle that had the capability to recognize facial features and “smile” when the person looking at it smiled. The campaign was fun, simple, and inexpensive. Grey Poupon wanted to emphasize the exclusivity of the type of people who eat Grey Poupon, so they created a Facebook page where people had to be accepted to like them. They were serious about the kind of people they wanted representing their product. According to Adweek, “Over the six-month course of the campaign, Grey Pouponended up rejecting some 35,000 applicants—more than the 32,000 it accepted.”The campaign was creative and targeted their market perfectly. Public relations has utilized new media too. A main component that new media has helped this profession with is getting the word out about a product or event. People who are following a brand on Twitter or have liked their Facebook page, they will most likely get notifications from these platforms about what the company is doing. If the company is hosting an event, what better way to get the word out than put it on social media. For broadcasting professionals, new media is huge. News is watched online. In fact, everything can be watched online. Youtube

channels are huge as well as other live streaming websites. Many brpadcasting professionals have been an integral part in creating a stream of live video on traditional media’s websites. Such as when Amarillo Globe News came up with AGN TV where they run broadcasted news stories. New media has played a tremendous part in revolutionized traditional media platforms.

2. There were plenty of new media concepts we learned this semester and I am going to discuss some of them. I was very interested in user-generated content because it affects me directly right now and is such a smart way to advertise. Contests for logos, commercial ideas, and new flavors are only some of the ways companies are implementing this idea. Allowing for fans to use their own ideas not only cuts down costs, but also makes fans feel a close connection to the specific company. Another concept discussed was cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is growing and becoming an issue throughout many schools. It can take many forms, such as sending mean messages, spreading rumors, and breaking into other accounts. According to Bullying Statistics, over half of teens have been victims of cyber-bullying, but only 1 in 10 tells a parent. There are much needed protection strategies trying to be implemented and I believe measures should continue to be taken to stop this. Privacy is another huge issue which is being seen online. There are many debates about how far companies should be able to go to reach their users. I personally believe that some of the measures companies are taking are simply good advertising techniques. Knowing what other things your market is interested in helps you to relate to them and make them feel part of your company. Some people think that companies should not be allowed to do this in any way because it violates their right to privacy. Strong arguments can be made for both sides. Augmented reality is amazing. The fact thtat technology can allow us to be virtually anywhere in the world is crazy. So much work has been put into creating this augmented reality. According to Mashable, “As good as today’s virtual reality experiences are –in exhibition and in the home- they owe much to our rececent consumer technology past.” As AR technology continues to expand and grow it will be awesome to see what we will be able to do from the insides of our own homes. Some key terms that we discussed this semester will now be looked at. Search engine optimization is very important within a company. SEO allows for a company to come up online when certain key words are typed in. The higher a website is listed when someone is searching for something online, the more likely it is that the link will be clicked on and the company will get noticed. Crowdsourcing I can relate back to user generated content which I discussed earlier. Using other people for ideas is a great way to connect with an audience. It allows them to tell you what they want and give ideas to help the company succeed. I believe it is a great way to utilize materials and has helped many companies in many ways.

3. New media tools are making everyday lives easier and entertaining. One of my favorites is Pinterest. Pinterest allows for people to look at a tremendous amount of different content all in one place. There are tons of categories and people can type in whatever they want and pictures and ideas are sure to come up. Pinterest has over 70 million users and is continuing to grow. Corporate usage of this site is very smart because it generates more revenue for a company than any other social media platform. The pictures seen on Pinterest are linked to a site than will give full details of what the picture is portraying. If you are wanting to landscape your backyard and see a beautiful picture of one on Pinterest, most likely users will click the picture and take you to a website. If the link takes you to Home Depo where it gives you exactly everything you will need, users will do it. It is about simplicity, showmanship, convenience. Another new media tool is Hootsuite. Hootsuite is very savvy for commercial use. It allows companies to keep track of all social media in one place and have different tabs dedicated to different aspects for the company. It is a smart way to stay connected with people using your products. According to7 Reasons Why Youi Should Use Hootsuite,one of the reasons is because of vast amount of networks and apps it supports. Linked In is growing and a huge help for companies. It is a great way to connect and have an online profile to get your name out there. Establishing a Linked In profile will help me in the future to land jobs and show possible employers a little more about me before they actually meet me. Storify is another new media tool which I never would have been aware of without this class. I know that in my future profession I will be utilizing social media and this is another way to keep everything in the same place. Learning to efficiently navigate Storify has helped me to be more well-rounded in utilizing social media in general. The last new media tool I want to talk about is Twitter because of how much it is really growing. Personal twitter accounts have been around quite a while, but it has just recently made the transition into corporate usage and that is one of the smartest things a company can do. It is one of the best ways to connect. From material the companies puts out about itself to what others are tagging the company in, utilizing twitter is smart. Replying to tweets is important if a company wants to really make it work and the use of some of the other tools I discussed earlier is making that process even easier. A combination of many new media tools will help companies to be successful because of today’s digital world.

4. New media impacts our society in so many ways. We are part of a digital linkage where we feel the need to always be connected and there are so many ways to connect. From cellphone texting to Facebook to businesses incorporating media into their campaigning, we are surrounded. I had to go one day without any media and it was horrible. I felt so naked. Information is literally at our finger tips and it is truly amazing. We can learn so much and accomplish so much from our couches. “The Internet has become the fastest growing and widely used medium, especially in the Western World.” Without the Internet I truly believe we would be lost. I use it everyday for so moany different things as does most of today’s society. New media has brought people together and made communication easier than ever thought possible.